SpaceX’s starship rocket explodes after successful test flight and landing

SpaceX has conducted another test flight with its Starship rocket. It reached an altitude of ten kilometers and even seemed to have landed for the first time. However, the rocket exploded shortly after landing.

The Starship SN10 lifted off from SpaceX’s own launch pad at Boca Chica, Texas at around 12:15 a.m. Wednesday night after an attempt was delayed earlier in the evening due to thrust problems. After launch, the rocket flew to an altitude of about ten kilometers, the target height of the test. During takeoff, the three Raptor engines were shut down one at a time. Then the Starship did a belly flop, during which the rocket came to lie horizontal for a while and then had to land vertically again.

During the landing, SpaceX managed to switch the three engines back on. Just before the touchdown, two of them were eliminated again. That’s where previous Starship landings failed; in February, one of the engines failed to ignite in time and the missile crashed on impact.

The landing initially seemed to have gone well on this launch. SpaceX’s own livestream showed the rocket making a vertical soft landing on the platform. The live stream was cut short shortly after. However, later images show that the rocket still exploded. That happened about eight minutes after landing.

The cause of the explosion is not yet known. SpaceX or CEO Elon Musk has not said anything about it yet. The images show how the rocket flies into the air due to the explosion.

The SN10 flight was the sixth successful flight of the Starship rocket. Previous prototypes regularly exploded or imploded on the launch pad, but the last two flights saw SN8 and SN 9 both reach new record highs. However, each time the landing failed.